Sound Familiar? 'Moderate' Dem Spanberger Became Virginia Gov by Promising 'Affordability,' But Leftists Immediately Push Radical Tax-First Agenda in Legislature
It’s a tale as old as time, as the song goes. And like the song’s corporate creator — Disney — the people behind it this time have gone crazy woke.
When Virginia Democrats nominated U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger as their nominee for the 2025 gubernatorial race, they basically thought they were nominating a candidate so safe she was like a deadbolt lock, swathed in 300 pounds of bubble wrap, and placed in a vault in Fort Knox. Spanberger had a reputation as a “moderate” among Democrats, such as they exist, and it wasn’t entirely unearned.
Spanberger famously upbraided Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and The Squad™ during a conference call in the aftermath of the party’s underperformance in the House elections in 2020, saying: “We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. … We lost good members because of that.” AOC called her racist for it — but she was right.
So the whole “progressivism is bad” argument just doesn’t have any compelling evidence that I’ve seen.
When it comes to “Defund” & “Socialism” attacks, people need to realize these are racial resentment attacks. You’re not gonna make that go away. You can make it less effective.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 6, 2020
During the 2025 gubernatorial race, when Spanberger wasn’t talking in platitudes, she used “affordability” like it was going out of style. She was a Democrat who had learned the lessons of Bidenflation before Bidenflation hit, which gave her some OG cred among independents and moderates.
And, in a state with a huge cost of living issue despite a generally popular outgoing GOP governor and a GOP nominee who wanted to fight culture war issues, not egg prices, this played well enough even when it turned out the Democrats’ attorney general candidate was an assassination fantasist who’d texted about wanting to kill Republicans. She still managed to drag him over the line and get him elected, too, in a landslide for the Democrats:
It shouldn’t take this many words to say fantasizing about murder is wrong and that Jay Jones needs to go. pic.twitter.com/EVuOpk2Ksj
— Winsome Earle-Sears (@winwithwinsome) October 9, 2025
Herein lies the eternal problem: Spanberger is, I do believe, a moderate-ish Democrat in her heart of hearts. The people she dragged along with her? Not so much — and things are about to get a lot uglier if they have their way in the Virginia General Assembly, which they control.
Here’s WJLA-TV, reporting on how Virginians are Captain Renault-level shocked — shocked! — that Democrats are somehow looking to raise their taxes bigly:
🚨 JUST IN: Virginia voters are shocked as Democrats roll out a tidal wave of new taxes — from deliveries to cars, gyms, and even pet services.pic.twitter.com/lH9AsPUJe4
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) January 29, 2026
Wow, that’s quite the list of taxes! It’s worth noting two things. First, most of these taxes fit under one bill, HB900, which would introduce taxes on everything from gym membership to dry cleaning to concert tickets to delivery services. Second, most of these proposals come from Democrats in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. — veritable Soviet Socialist Republics compared to the rest of the Commonwealth.
And a third thing, which WJLA pointed out: Most of these bills aren’t going to pass, and if they do, Spanberger could still say no by refusing to sign them into law.
Political Science Professors Larry Sabato and Stephen Farnsworth believe most of the tax increase proposals will not pass the Virginia General Assembly.
“I think it’s important to note that a lot of what gets proposed in the legislature never comes to pass,” said Farnsworth, a professor with the University of Mary Washington.
But if they do pass, Sabato, a professor at UVA, says Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger should get involved.
“To me, the impression is terrible, and it contradicts the theme of affordability,” Sabato said about the tax increase proposals. “She has the veto power, and there’s item veto. There are a lot of things that she can employ, and they will be employed because otherwise this will end up being the central criticism of her first year in office.”
Considering that both Farnsworth and (especially) Sabato are two of the more influential political science academics working today, that’s not just idle speculation: She’ll likely keep a lid on these taxes. For now.
However, it’s not as if Spanberger herself showed that a “moderate” Democrat is still anathema to “affordability,” as well:
Meanwhile, Spanberger, who made “affordability” the top issue she ran on last year, told lawmakers last week that Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Rejoining RGGI would add a fee to your monthly electricity bill.
And things aren’t quite so cheap with electricity rates approved by the Democrats:
BREAKING – Virginia residents are now panicking as, not even a full month into 2026, their electricity bills are nearly tripling as they are being hit with new Democrat-approved energy rates, with one resident saying she is now paying $600 per month, more than her car payment. pic.twitter.com/h7y1KwoW0Q
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) January 29, 2026
“What the actual hell is going on?” What you voted for — or your state did, anyhow.
At least in Virginia, there’s a brake on all this. The governor is term-limited, and without the incumbency, the Democrats will be hard-pressed to find another plausible “moderate” if affordability doesn’t take root by 2029. Spanberger has already signed the state up for significant pain, but she’s probably aware that, as much as she’d like the revenue, she’d like the possibility of a higher office even more.
However, welcome to the modern Democratic Party. For all of what we heard in 2025, they might as well rechristen themselves as the Affordability Party. Even a hardcore socialist like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani adopted the tag, and an adoring media ran with it, blaming Republicans for not immediately fixing the inflation the Democrats had incurred and getting us back to status quo ante in a period of nine months.
And what do they do when given power? They come up with ways to take your money, immediately. The only difference is how much of it they plan to take at first: Go big or go slow. But they’ll do it, one way or another.
Over at PJ Media, one writer suggested that the WJLA report be used as a campaign ad for the GOP for the midterms. Run it over and over again. Because this is what Democrats do, over and over again. Affordability is the football, the voters are Charlie Brown, and the Democrats are Lucy Van Pelt. It doesn’t matter whether Lucy talks like Abigail Spanberger, or even walks like Abigail Spanberger once did. She’s still going to pull it away, dummies.
Theoretically, then, Virginia’s loss could be America’s gain. But then again, history — and Charles Schultz — shows us that no matter how many times Charlie Brown fell flat on his behind, he still gave it another go. Perhaps this time, the memory will be fresh enough that America doesn’t hand the reins to the lunatic left as it hides behind a “moderate” face.
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